God is Love

Dear friends, all we who are beloved and redeemed by God,
     let us love one another.  

Loving each other sounds both very simple 
     and nearly impossible.

But love for others IS possible for love comes from God.  
As we draw near to God, we begin to experience a love like no other.  
           A pure love.  
                An unrelenting love.  

If we are willing, 
              cooperative, 
                   obedient,
     we become able to reflect the same love to others.  

How is this possible? 

Because everyone who loves has been born of God 
                       and knows God.  

If possible, why is true love so rare?  
      Because where there is no God, there is no love. 
     
Whoever does not love the Lord 
     with all his heart, 
     with all his soul, 
     with all his mind,
     and does not love his neighbor as much as he does himself
does not know God, 
because God is love.

How is the love of God for humanity possible?  
     IS IT even possible?  
          Can we be certain? 
               What proof exists?

This is how God showed his love among us:  He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him.

We know this truth.  We have heard it before.
     Ten times.
          One hundred times.
               More times than we could ever count.
               Yet our minds cannot grasp its significance.

This amazing, 
     incomprehensible, 
     un-repayable gift 
                  is love:  

Not that we have ever earned 
     or will ever deserve the gift.  

Love is offered not because we loved God, 
     although to the limits of our willingness and understanding, we do.  
But that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Dear friends, since God so loved us, 
     knowing how utterly pathetic 
     miserable,
     inadequate,
     and undeserving we are, 
is it not absolutely clear that we also 
ought to love one another? 


              1 John 4:7-11